sits in trees

Wow!

I say they give the land back to the true owners, the American Indian and be done with.

When does the push for full season use of crossbows begin, the 14 days is a start, but its not full inclusion. Im ready to sell off all that pesky vert bow equipment and go full crossbow. Problem is you wont get much for those compound vert bows we paid thousands for. Oh well might make good tomato stakes.

Hey that bozo Ted Nugent was caught red handed documenting his own poaching practices and airing it on national TV....

The restaurants down my way are booming with business, that is the good ones. Word spreads fast about the not so good ones.

What.

They're hotter than hell right now by me. I always thought our season started a week or two too late. Last season they were henned up first week of May and the things were slow.

Yea I myself have only used an xbow for maybe 5 or 6 years now and wouldn't consider myself an expert by a long stretch. One thing I haven't attempted yet is the dreaded re cock in the tree stand thing. Haven't ever had to do it and just never had the nerve to try it. I would probably climb down re cock and climb back up, lol.

If any of you who are truly interested in trying crossbow hunting want to talk to some great folk and avoid all the anti stuff that will no doubt be going on here for a while and just want answers and facts try the Excalibur forum. A lot of very knowledgable fellas over there.

no, but I do know of several vert bowman who will now be xbow hunting.

i do, and if not for the first time it will be the first time with an xbow for many.

Well for me anyway the whining and crying part is now over, now its time to start talking crossbow hunting techniques, the heck with Myths and Facts, we have a lot of hunters who will enter the deer woods for the very first time this season with a weapon they have never used before and if they can avoid half the mistakes I made when starting out by listening and getting some pointers from experienced xbow hunters on this site that would be a really good thing in my opinion. Hey Mods is it possible we make a whine and cry section for those that want to continue the arguments on why crossbows shouldn't be legal, you now a safe place where therapist's and suicide watch personnel are present etc.

Shoot right along that red line and you have a dead bird. The yellow circle is the meat, shoot there and you have no bird. As far as shooting Turkeys with a shotgun and not destroying meat is questionable because in my experience stray pellets have a way of ending up in the breast and even one or 2 number 6 pellets in the breast meat are nasty because first off its lead and they pull feathers right into the meat. Don't hesitate to hunt Turks with a bow or xbow its tons of fun, very quiet(doesn't disrupt the flock and if you hit where I said you will nail em every time especially with the accuracy an xbow provides.

If you are destroying meat its usually only going to be for the yotes that find your bird. The meat on a wild Turk is the breast and if your arrow goes thru the breast your not killing or finding the bird. Once you learn the kill zone on a Wild Turkey you will drop them every time with an arrow.

At the risk of sounding pompous I hear lots of people complaining about jobs here in NY but everyone I know works and does pretty good. And CSX is a solid outfit to hook up with.

Oh unlike using a crossbow for deer Turks really don't "Jump the String" so if your in a blind using say a shooting stick and a scoped crossbow and your a steady shot you do have an advantage over a vert bow hunter by making shots out to 40 yds or more if your really good.

If you do its fun to do from a blind. If you have never shot a Turk with an arrow you might be surprised to see where the kill/vitals are on a Turk. If you shoot for the chest they will take off never to be found. General rule of thumb for a quick kill on Turk standing broadside is aim strait up the drumstick and about 2 inchs below the top of the bird, yea it may sound weird but I have put arrows into numerous Turks to watch them run off never finding them or my expensive arrow. Turks don't leave blood trails and are tough birds with arrow pass thrus not always a guarantee. The idea is you want to put that broadhead thru the spine or as close to the spine as possible which helps severe the communication link from their little brains to their wings and disrupting their ability to fly off. The vitals as traditionally thought of by deer hunters being heart and lungs doesn't work for Turks, you put an arrow right thru the heart and lungs and the fowl will fly for a distance long enough for you never to find em. Hit em high watch em die, Hit em low watch em go.....

Sounds like you did everything right and are also willing to go above and beyond by corresponding with neighbors and not shooting at particular times etc. What more can you do. And you even stated that you shot respectfully unlike some neighboring properties by me with idiots doing 30rd mag dumps on Sunday mornings which I have to say the one and only good thing about the Safe act is that I don't hear that anymore. So I wouldn't worry about it as she will get tired of calling the Troopers and them having to tell her there's nothing they can do.

yes don't forget that accuracy is do in part to being able to rest the bow on something when practicing, but quickly diminishes when shooting freehand especially from a stand.

I have to agree with almost everything in your post but would like to mention that manufactures are very specific about arrows used in their bows and when u start changing between alum and carbon or different weights and lengths diameters can change which could cause string jump/dry fire.And the second thing is the cheaper scopes work just fine for the shots your going to be taking with a crossbow, you may not even want a scope for shooting at deer sized game at 30yds at all for that matter. I guess what I'm saying is don't be discouraged from buying a package deal because the scope may not be the greatest. Even Excals scopes which most people consider to be very good would be scuffed at by someone looking for a good scope on a rifle. Most xbow scopes are low power and have thick crosshairs but are more than sufficient for the job required.

Actually Obama gets most of that money and gives it directly to his Muslim overlords.

Oh one more, make sure when your cocking an xbow that your foot is all the way in the stirrup and secure. If when cocking the stirrup slips off your foot the bow will slam right into your chest in the most unpleasant way.

Sounds like a big political Hootenanny to me.....And why the hell is Porterhouse freakin 10 bucks a pound!!!!

Yes many do suggest shooting to unload although a lot of hunters figure ways to bypass the dry fire mechanism by using a wooden dowel for example. Excalibur's are easily uncocked/unloaded with a rope cocker. My personal experience is that its a nuisance to have to shoot your xbow after a hunt especially at night, it requires you carry some sort of target to shoot into or walk back to your house in my situation with a cocked bow, all a little tricky at night. Also shooting an arrow into the ground to unload doesn't work here in upstate NY because you will be destroying arrows when they hit rocks buried in the dirt.

A couple of pointers for you new crossbow guys. When shooting keep you thumb down on your support hand, some bows actually have a shallow enough forend that will permit you to raise your thumb up high enough for the string to hit it on release, I removed half a thumbnail and quickly learned never to put that thumb up again. Another biggie is a dryfire with a crossbow can not only be disastrous for the bow but you can do serious harm to any bystanders or yourself when the limbs fly off the bow at great speed like lawnmower blades spinning thru the air. When relaxing the limbs on your bow always remove the arrow, duh sounds stupid right but you would not believe how many people have speared their foot into the ground with a crossbow arrow. Another quickie, always use the manufacture's recommended arrows, unlike compound vert bows there's not much variation in arrow shaft weight/length that a crossbow will let you get away with without serious injury or mucho damage to the bow. Also always be careful when cocking a crossbow they are like bear traps and if the string is not fully engaged and you let go your foot will be the first to know.